


tom makes very good choices at all times

by biomechatronical



Series: eddsworld fanfics bc i'm coping. [4]
Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Needles, Tattoos, edd is mentioned slightly. matt is mentioned even less. i am sorry, so tw for needles, stick and pokes specifically, this is the longest fic i've ever written aslfdjfal, tord never leaves i guess bc they're 25 and i imagine tord leaving before then
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29776317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biomechatronical/pseuds/biomechatronical
Summary: Tord has been doing stick and poke tattoos since he was a teenager. Tom wants one.
Relationships: Tom/Tord (Eddsworld)
Series: eddsworld fanfics bc i'm coping. [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908397
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	tom makes very good choices at all times

**Author's Note:**

> before u come @ me for making fun of one of the tattoos i literally have the one i made fun of. i am making fun of myself and i am correct

Tom doesn’t remember high school that well, but he remembers there was about a week where not only did Edd refuse to talk to Tord, but Tord seemed to genuinely feel bad about whatever he had done. Neither of them would tell anybody what Tord did, but when summer rolled around, Tom and Matt both learned what had happened. They had all decided to go swimming one day and Edd removed his shirt to reveal a… unique looking tattoo just below his collarbone. It was unique in that it looked like shit. It looked like maybe it was supposed to be a cat, but it was hard to tell at all. Tom asked about it and Edd told him that Tord had convinced him to let him do a stick and poke tattoo. Tord had already done two semi decent ones on himself, but doing one on another person proved to be more difficult than he thought. Eventually, Edd got the tattoo covered up professionally, and the incident had been left in the past to be nothing more than a kind of funny story.

Tom had done a few stick and pokes on himself, one in high school and two in college when his friends were already doing some and had extra supplies. The one from high school was a terribly done logo of a band he didn’t listen to anymore on his left calf. He kept meaning to get it covered up, or try and fix it himself, but never ended up making the time. The first one from college is on his left arm of a frowning face with two X’s for the eyes. Tom doesn’t regret it, but it really does have a “painfully edgy dumbass kid” vibe to it. The last one is just a simple diamond on his right wrist. It doesn’t mean anything, but it’s pretty decent, and Tom will often run his thumb over it when he’s nervous. Tom hasn’t gotten any new tattoos, professional or otherwise, since he was in college - but he knows that Tord never stopped getting them.

Tom knows he started on his lower legs; they’ve known each other long enough that Tom has watched as new tattoos pop up. Eventually, Tord started on his arms, and even did some on his own chest. Tord never offers up information on if his any of his tattoos mean anything, and Tom has never asked. When they go swimming, or it’s hot in the house and Tord wears lighter clothing than usual, Tom has a tendency to stare. He looks at each tattoo, seeing as Tord’s skill improves with each new one. Tord never really seemed to notice when Tom would stare. Even if he did, Tom only stares to look at the tattoos. Nothing else. Just… the tattoos.

And now they stand, staring at each other - Tord staring wide eyed at Tom from his place on the couch, not having expected him to be home at all, and Tom staring at Tord’s hands, which were holding a needle hovering over his currently exposed thigh. They stood like that for just a bit, before Tom broke the silence.

“Why the hell are you doing this in the living room?” Tord doesn’t answer, instead asking his own question.

“Why the hell are you home? I thought you were going to spend the night with your date.”

Tom scowled, “She never showed up. I waited for a damn hour.” He was actually pretty hurt about it, but it was easier to just be irritated. He sat in the chair next to the couch. “I couldn’t even drink, since I actually drove there for once.” Tord huffed out a quiet laugh.

“Poor Tom, couldn’t drink for a whole night. What ever will he do?” Tord cupped his cheek with the hand that wasn’t holding the needle as he spoke. His tone was mocking, but in a friendly way. Tom was a little relieved - usually Tord would get overly irritated if you caught him off guard, but he seemed to be in a decent mood tonight.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tom waved his hand, “now answer my question. Why are you doing this in the living room? I always assumed you did it in your own room.” Tord looked away.

“It’s uh… pretty messy in there right now. It wouldn’t be sanitary.” Tom raises an eyebrow.

“Is any of this really sanitary?” Tord shrugs.

“It’s not the worst. Better than when I started.” Tom looks at the coffee table with all of Tord’s stuff on it and realizes he’s right. He has a disposable mat out with the right needles, real tattoo ink, and a proper disinfectant. It’s better than anything Tom ever did.

There’s an awkward silence for a bit, until Tord decides to resume his tattoo. Tom doesn’t leave the living room, instead deciding to watch as Tord pricks himself with the needle over and over. He’s going faster than Tom ever has, but he’s confident in his movements. It isn’t long before Tord sets the needle on the mat, presumably to dispose of it later. He grabs a disinfectant wipe, but instead of immediately of cleaning the excess ink off his leg, he turns to Tom.

“You want to watch the reveal? I was already close to done when you walked in.”

Tom nods and gets up to stand closer to Tord. He wonders if he seems too excited, but doesn’t dwell on it. Tord starts to wipe the ink off and reveals the design he put on his thigh. In the center, there’s a large eye, and behind the eye is a dagger. It’s nothing particularly complex, but Tom can’t stop staring. It’s well done, and darker than any of the tattoos Tom has. He continues staring, before he realizes Tord looks like he’s waiting for Tom’s praise.

“It’s uh. Cool. Way better than mine…” Tom trails off a little, “where did you get the design?”

Tord grins. “Do you like it? I made it myself a couple days ago, finally had the opportunity to do it tonight. It doesn’t mean anything, but it’s pretty cool if I say so myself.” Tord moves to start cleaning his supplies, and Tom stands near him awkwardly. It doesn’t take long - most of the stuff just goes into a bag to throw out, but some things go back into a box on the floor that Tom hadn’t noticed before. It has more needles, more ink, cleaning supplies - and it also has what Tord will probably use to wrap up his tattoo.

“Do you uh.. need any help?” Tom asks. Tord seals the bag he was putting disposable things in and sets it on the table. “No, not really,” he says, “it’s not hard to bandage myself, and I need to wait for a bit anyway.” Tord smiles in a more genuine way than usual.

“Alright. Have fun,” Tom says, and he starts to head to his room. He walks a bit faster than usual, and once he reaches his room, Tom flops into his bed, still fully dressed, and stares at the ceiling. There’s only one thought in his head.

He wants a tattoo from Tord.

+++

Tom doesn’t ask immediately. He waits a few days, giving himself time to back out. People regret tattoos all the time, especially non professional ones. But the desire is persistent in his head, and only gets stronger. It’s strange for him to get want something so intensely; most of the time now, all his emotions seem dull and dispassionate, but this has a been an incessant nagging in his head. He’s even started spacing off thinking about it. Edd actually asked if he was okay at breakfast after Tom just stared at his cereal for a couple minutes, lost in his thoughts. He decided he would ask. This only issue was figuring out how.

He was embarrassed about it, honestly. He and Tord have fought less and less over the years; they even find themselves having fun together without Edd or Matt around to keep them from killing each other, which was something they would’ve never thought possible in early years. Still, it’s not like they’re super close. They never do anything together on purpose, even though Tom contemplates inviting Tord to hang out more and more often. It’s always coincidence. Occasionally they’ll have conversations where they open up, but those are few and far between. Asking this just feels… intimate, really. It feels different than getting a tattoo from a professional.

Tom shakes his head a little to himself. Currently, he’s sitting in the chair next to the couch, leaning heavily on the armchair with his head in his hand. Edd and Matt had both left the room about half an hour ago, Matt to sleep, and Edd to work alone in his own room. Tom and Tord were both left alone in the living room, with neither of them paying attention to the shitty cartoon playing on the television. Tord was sprawled on the couch, playing on his phone, but he glanced over at Tom when he heard the rustling as Tom shook his head. “You okay?” he asks casually, only half expecting Tom to answer.

“Did you ever try tattooing anybody after you tried on Edd?” Tom cringes just slightly at himself. Real fucking smooth, genius. Not abrupt or awkward at all. The words just spilled out of his mouth before he could think about them, but Tord doesn’t appear to mind. He turns on his side to better face Tom, holding his phone limply in his hand.

“No, actually. For a while I was just terrified of fucking it up, but I got over that eventually. The opportunity just never really presented itself, I guess.” Tord shrugs as he ends his sentence.

“Do you… want to try on me?” Tom tries to keep his voice even and not too excited. He isn’t sure why exactly, but he wants to appear nonchalant. Tord’s interest, however, is very obviously peaked. He fully sits up, and leans forwards.

“Do you have anything specific in mind?” Tord seems to be trying to play it cool himself, but Tom can see genuine excitement shining in his eyes. Tom then realizes he hadn’t actually come with a single idea of what he wanted, and panics just a bit.

“Ah. No,” he pauses for a second, “I guess you could just choose?”

Pause. There’s a silence in the room, both men surprised by what Tom just said. He couldn’t believe himself. Tord, of all people, choosing a tattoo for him? It was surprising enough that Tom would want Tord anywhere near him with a needle. Even so, Tom doesn’t find himself regretting it. Tord seems to get even more excited, once he moves past his surprise.

“I think I have something you’ll really like.”

+++

The next day, music plays at a low volume in the background as Tom sits on the floor of his own room, watching Tord set out everything he needs with gloved hands. There was a clean, dark blue blanket spread underneath them. Tord had cleaned his room since doing his own stick and poke, but he had never liked having other people in there, so they agreed to do it in Tom’s room instead. They decided the tattoo would go on his upper left arm, so Tom was wearing an old tank top he’d managed to find in his closet to make it easier, and Tord was wearing a plain grey t-shirt so that his sleeves wouldn’t get in the way. Tom didn’t actually know what the design would be; he told Tord to just completely surprise him. He really couldn’t believe himself. Letting Tord poke an unknown design into his skin - what has the world come to?

“Are you absolutely sure about this?” Tord seems genuinely nervous for once, and Tom finds it a little cute, honestly.

“Yeah. I’m sure,” Tom answers.

Tord nods then, breathing out to help calm himself. They had already transferred the design to his skin and Tord had finished preparing everything else. All that was left to do was begin the actual process. After dipping his needle in the ink he had set out, Tord moves to sit beside Tom. He uses his left hand to hold Tom’s arm in place, he uses his right arm to begin poking in the ink. It stings, but the pain isn’t unbearable. They don’t talk while Tord is working. He’s extremely focused, in the same way he focuses on repairing something for work, or building a new project. Tom can’t figure out if he enjoys it or not.

He’s glad Tord is focused of course. It’s just so much undivided attention on him that he’s not used to, and somehow it just feels like so much more when it’s coming from Tord. Maybe it’s just the way Tord is. He’s always been somewhat intense in general, and while he may have calmed down in recent years, he’s still the same Tord. The scarier explanation is that Tord specifically is special to Tom, and maybe Tom’s growing desire to be around Tord and learn about him and make him smile means something. The thought of that being true terrifies Tom to no end, and he shoves it away again and again, hoping that those feelings will go away forever and never come to light.

Tom tries to shut his thoughts down by focusing on the music he set up. It was just a random playlist he had made for when he needed something in the background while doing something else. It was mostly just songs he’d been listening to since he was a teenager, but there was some stuff from newer bands as well. He had barely put any thought into it, but still found himself hoping Tord liked the music he chose. He always ends up thinking about Tord, whether the guy is actually there or not, but for now he can fool himself into thinking the only reason he keeps thinking about Tord is because he’s so close.

Tord is still in the same position, still poking, and Tom realizes he doesn’t really have any way of knowing how much Tord has to do. He knows most designs Tord does are pretty simple, but even then, he doesn’t know the average amount of time it takes. He half tries to guess what the design is, but can’t really come up with anything. He felt Tord do two parallel lines going straight up, but he couldn’t tell what anything else was. He breathes deeply, patiently waiting for Tord to finish. It takes a while, but eventually Tord wipes Tom’s arm off for the final time and sets his needle down.

“Done.” Tord says unceremoniously. They both stand, Tord waiting to clean everything up until Tom has seen his tattoo. Tom walks over to the mirror in his room, and stands so he can see the new design on his arm in the reflection.

It’s his bass.

The design isn’t super detailed, but he still recognizes it immediately. It doesn’t have strings, but it’s shaped the same and has tape in all the right places. The checkerboard part isn’t colored in, but Tom isn’t sure he’d want to do that today after doing the outline. Either way, it’s fantastic. It still looks like a stick and poke, of course, but the lines are clear and decisive. It’s darker than his other ones too, since this one used real tattoo ink. And it was done by Tord. He really did know something Tom would adore.

“I can fill the checkerboard another time if you want, but we’ve already done a lot today. I didn’t put any strings because it would look too cluttered since the tattoo itself isn’t that big. I didn’t get the shape wrong, did I?” Tord is starting to ramble because Tom has just been staring in the mirror without saying anything. He always rambles when he’s nervous and doesn’t want to admit it. Tom places his hand just below the tattoo, not wanting to touch the sensitive, reddened skin.

“I love it.” Tom turns to face Tord, trying to pull himself out of his own head. “Filling in the checkerboard would be good, but not today.” Tom pauses for a moment before saying, “Thank you, Tord.” Tom swears that Tord’s face gets red, just a little bit, but Tord has already regained his composure after his nervous rambling a few moments ago.

“You’re welcome.” Tord laughs. “Do you think I’ve finally redeemed myself after fucking up so bad on Edd?”

Tom makes and exaggerated ‘hmm’ noise. “I don’t know man, the one you gave Edd was  _ really fucking bad _ . It looked like if a baby alien tried to draw a cat.”

“Ah, but you could tell that it was supposed to be a cat, couldn’t you?”

They talk for a while, while Tord cleans up supplies and Tom helps him this time. They keep talking even when everything is clean, and after Tord has already wrapped Tom’s tattoo up so they can both go to sleep. It’s two a.m. by the time Tord goes back to his own room, and Tom sleeps more peacefully than usual.

**Author's Note:**

> bi tom rights
> 
> i am both not satisfied with this and also kinda proud. i am finishing this at 3:30 in the morning


End file.
